Storm Darragh Strikes

Following Storm Darragh’s arrival in the UK yesterday night, millions of Britons have been advised to stay indoors and many have been left without electricity.

The Met Office issued a rare ‘danger to life’ red wind alert between 3 am and 11 am on Saturday, with ‘significant disruption’ anticipated across most of the coast of Wales and parts of south-west England.

Three million people in the red wind warning zones were issued an emergency alert on their phones – as part of the Government’s ‘risk to life’ warning system – urging them to avoid driving and to ‘stay indoors if you can’.

Gusts of up to 93mph were recorded overnight in Capel Curig in North Wales, while wind speeds of 72-78mph were recorded along the coasts of Wales and Northern Ireland.

Thousands of people across Northern Ireland, England and Wales were also left without power and some locals woke up to crushed cars caused by fallen trees.

The Energy Networks Association said 86,000 homes in England, Scotland and Wales are without power. About 385,000 customers have been reconnected overnight, with more than 1,000 engineers ready to be deployed, it added.

Darragh has also brought widespread travel disruption along the east coast, with the Prince of Wales Bridge, M4 and the Severn Bridge, M48, which connect South West England to Wales closed due to powerful winds.

A Premier League game between Liverpool and Everton has been cancelled owing to safety concerns, while other sporting events around the UK and Ireland have also been thrown into chaos.

On Friday, the Met Office issued the most severe weather warning, a red one, for wind. This means that dangerous weather is predicted and people should take precautions to protect themselves and others.

The warning, which has led to cancelling events including Christmas attractions, is in place from 3 am to 11 am on Saturday.

The Met Office warned of ‘damaging winds’ with gusts of 90mph likely over the coasts and hills of West and South Wales. Forecasters say the most powerful winds will start to ease from late morning.

Information on the red alert and instructions on how to keep safe until Saturday was given to all compatible mobile phones in the affected areas via the Cabinet Office’s Emergency Alert system.

Even while on mute, mobile phones vibrated and created a loud siren-like sound that lasted for almost ten seconds. However, others have asserted that they were not notified.

The UK’s west coast, which stretches from southern Scotland to Cornwall and Northern Ireland, is under a separate amber warning that is in effect from 1 am to 9 pm.

Flying debris and falling trees could pose a risk to life while large waves and beach material could be hurled onto coastal roads and seafronts.

There could also be damage to buildings and homes, with roofs blown off and power lines brought down, as well as power cuts impacting other services such as mobile phone coverage.

Fallen trees destroyed cars on Cardiff’s exclusive Cathedral Road, with one local describing a ‘superb effort’ from a council that removed a tree that fell during Storm Darragh, breaking windows and damaging the wall around a property.

Stuart Cox, 64, said that an approximately 50ft mature tree on Cathedral Road in the Welsh capital fell into his next-door neighbour’s garden in the early hours of Saturday.

‘It broke one window two doors down and destroyed next door’s gate. The only damage to ours was the front wall was forced sideways, making the wall unstable and unable to shut the gate,’ the accountant said.

In addition, Darragh has caused chaos at sporting events around the UK and Ireland, forcing several cancellations due to strong winds and unrelenting rain.

High-profile events like Chepstow’s Christmas Party race day and Aintree’s Boylesports Becher Chase were cancelled due to horse racing, another significant sporting casualty.

Additionally, Liverpool’s match against Everton has been cancelled. The match will be the final Premier League Merseyside derby played at Goodison Park, and authorities, not the two teams, have chosen to postpone it.

In Wales, Cardiff City’s Championship clash with Watford was called off due to the storm, alongside other local fixtures considered unsafe to proceed. Plymouth’s Championship match against Oxford has also been shelved. 

In League One, Bristol Rovers versus Bolton has also been called off, while in League Two Newport County’s clash with Carlisle has been postponed. 

Authorities on both sides of the border had made preparations ahead of the worst of the storm making landfall. 

The official Irish meteorological office Met Eireann’s highest level of alert covers counties Mayo, Clare, Galway, Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo and Wicklow.

The Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris urged those living in areas covered by red warnings to take them ‘extraordinarily seriously’. 

‘A red weather warning does mean do not travel during that period of time, and even though it is a Friday night and coming up to the Christmas season, I’d really encourage people to heed that advice and indeed to follow closely weather advice in the hours ahead,’ he said.

‘Of course, there’s an orange weather warning for the rest of the country as well. So, really, people in that area should avoid any unnecessary travel at all. It is important people take these warnings very, very seriously in terms of protecting life in the hours ahead.’

Dublin airport confirmed it had welcomed some flights bound for other airports and was diverted due to the fourth named storm of the season.

Northern Ireland Electricity Networks said it estimated approximately 46,000 customers are without power, but added this number could continue to rise across the morning. In the Republic of Ireland, almost 400,000 customers are without power.

The rest of the Republic of Ireland will be covered by a Met Eireann orange wind warning. In Munster and Connacht, that warning came into effect at 8 pm on Friday until 10 am on Saturday.

The orange alert for Leinster and counties Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan came into effect two hours later at 10 pm and will also lift at 10 am on Saturday.

A Met Eireann yellow wind warning covering the whole state came into place at 3 pm on Friday. It will remain in effect after the orange warnings lift and will be in place until 3 pm on Saturday.

A yellow rain warning for Connacht, and counties Clare, Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan, Longford, Louth, Meath and Westmeath came into place at 10 am on Friday and will lift at 10 am on Saturday.

In Northern Ireland, the Met Office has issued an amber wind warning surrounding the entire area from 1 am on Saturday to 9 pm.

A yellow rain warning came into effect in Northern Ireland at 3 pm on Friday and will lift at noon on Saturday. A yellow wind warning also came into place at 3 pm on Friday.

In England it is understood residents in Devon, Bath and North East Somerset, the City of Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Somerset, Isle of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Vale of Glamorgan, Cardiff, Monmouthshire and Newport have been warned.

A Cabinet Office Spokesperson said: ‘The Met Office has issued a red warning for wind across parts of England and Wales from 0300 hrs until 1100 hrs on Saturday 7th December.

‘In light of the damaging winds and associated disruption, the Cabinet Office will issue an Emergency Alert at 1845 hrs on Friday 6th December to people in areas covered by the red warning in parts of Wales and the South West.

‘The Emergency Alert system will send a message to every compatible mobile phone in the impacted areas, containing information about the red warning and guidance on how to stay safe into Saturday. 

‘This will be the largest ever use of the system outside a test scenario. Mobile phones will make a loud siren-like sound even if they are set on silent. The sound and vibration will last for about 10 seconds.

‘The UK Government has well-rehearsed plans in place for severe winter weather and is working with teams from devolved governments, local authorities, the emergency services and other public bodies to coordinate the response to any disruption.’

National Highways said both the Prince of Wales Bridge, M4 and the Severn Bridge, M48, which connect South West England to Wales were closed due to strong winds.

Network Rail Wales said all train services west of Cardiff and on the North Wales Coast Line were suspended until further notice due to falling trees blocking the line.

In Scotland, the train line between Ayr and Girvan was closed after a large tree fell onto the tracks, while snow gates were closed on roads in the north-east of Scotland. 

National Highways advised the QEII Bridge at Dartford Crossing in England’s southeast had also been closed due to strong winds.

In the West Midlands, the A5 was closed between the B5070 at Gledrid and the A483 at Halton due to powerful winds.

National Rail said the storm was likely to affect services across the whole network, advising people to check their journey in full before travelling as it may mean the last services of the day are cancelled and passengers may not reach their destination. 

They have specifically advised those travelling in the city area of Liverpool and Cumbria to take additional care and urged them to plan their journeys in advance.

Chris Pye, Network Rail’s North West infrastructure director, said: ‘We are doing everything we can to prepare the railway for Storm Darragh.

‘I’d urge passengers to check before they travel as there may be some disruption to services during the extreme weather.

‘If you live near the railway, please can you secure any loose objects in your gardens such as trampolines and furniture.

‘It is a serious safety risk if they blow onto the tracks and creates more work for our teams who will be on hand around the clock to keep passengers safely on the move.’

Chiltern Railways advised customers to only travel if absolutely necessary on Saturday with significant disruption expected across the network.

A reduced timetable will be in operation with one train per hour on all routes. Chiltern said customers with tickets on Saturday can use them on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday instead.

Several British Airways flights to and from Heathrow, Paris, the United States and the Netherlands were also withdrawn. Air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats added that temporary air traffic restrictions are in place at Heathrow and Gatwick. 

Darragh is also expected to bring heavy rain over the weekend, with more than 120 flood warnings in place on Saturday morning.

An amber warning for rain is in place in Wales from 3 am to 6 pm on Saturday with heavy rain likely to lead to disruption to transport and infrastructure.

A yellow warning for rain is in place for Northern Ireland and Wales, both of which were badly impacted by flooding during Storm Bert, as well as parts of Scotland from 3 pm on Friday until noon on Saturday.

The Met Office said periods of heavy rain in south and mid-Wales through Saturday are likely to see 20-30mm fall in three to six hours, with totals of 80-90mm possible by the time it begins to ease in the evening.

Meteorologists said a period of ‘extremely strong winds’ will develop during the early hours of Saturday morning as the low-pressure system moves across the Irish Sea.

Forecasters told residents to ‘stay indoors if you can’ and ‘avoid travelling by road during potentially dangerous conditions – it is not safe to drive in these conditions’.

The deepening low-pressure system will bring a ‘risk to life and property’, with Christmas events such as light shows, trails and markets axed across the country. 

Christmas markets in towns such as Romsey, Hampshire; Taunton, Somerset; and Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire have all been cancelled due to the forecast. 

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park has also announced it will be closing its display of fairground rides, an ice kingdom and a Christmas market on Saturday because of ‘high winds’.

Elsewhere, the start of Bolton’s ‘Put Big Light On’ lights festival was shelved, and an ice sculpture trail in Darlington was also put back by a week.

Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire said it will not open on Saturday due to the storm for safety reasons, while Stonehenge is also closed due to high winds.

We’ve had extreme winter storms for as long as I can remember, with some causing a lot of damage and loss of life. However, they weren’t given names, nor was there a ‘red alert’ or panic-inducing headlines, but they will tell you that it’s all to do with ‘climate change’ – a bit of hysteria so that they can reinforce the agenda.

Label and connect is a traditional manipulation method. Give it a name, or label, and then associate it with danger, risk, terror, et cetera. The public should then be indoctrinated into identifying the message and altering their conduct by spreading it through the media. The fact that we get all of these things throughout the winter is nothing new.

It makes me question if the phone warning was a test run for something more sinister in the future. I wouldn’t rule it out because both our current and previous governments have committed some extremely heinous crimes.

However, this might be nothing more than a weather warning that furnishes people with a little ‘heads up’. This is required these days because some people lack the brains to take care. They park under enormous trees and stroll out by the sea. As a consequence, we have to name storms and issue constant weather alerts. It’s no big deal, and perhaps it’s not mass manipulation, or perhaps it is. I mean why would they not want you to go out? It would mean that you’re not spending money, filling up your vehicles with liquid gold that increases taxes and raises revenue – there is no motive there.

How we managed to exist without storm names fifty years ago is a mystery to me.

Technology, isn’t it fantastic? I’m not convinced about that since technology makes it possible for people to communicate paranoid beliefs online and act as media prophets.

While technology may be beneficial when utilised properly, some people just use it to spread fear and anxiety.

Once again, Mother Nature is demonstrating who is truly in charge of our planet.